Official Financial Reports Provide Evidence Of Undisclosed Affiliations Between Senator Johnson’s Campaign And Political Action Committees

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

A recent formal complaint lodged against the 2022 campaign of Tennessee Senate Republican Majority leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27) prompted further investigation into Johnson’s campaign donations and the money ties to the involved Political Action Committees (PACs).

Cross-referencing of official financial reports indicate that an out-of-state PAC gave money to Senator Johnson’s PAC, but was not reported by Johnson, and that the funds landed in another PAC that spent money only to attack Senator Johnson’s political opponent in the 2022 Republican primary.

Official financial reports show that the campaign of Senator Jack Johnson and the campaign’s manager, Ward Baker, potentially illegally coordinated with PACS during the 2022 primaries this past July.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) statement of organization forms show that PACs set up for Ward Baker clients Marsha Blackburn, Bill Hagerty and Morgan Ortegus all share the same treasurer in Les Williamson.

Axios and The Tennessean have reported on the connections between Baker and those campaigns.  It is understood that Baker has been Sen. Johnson’s campaign manager for some time.  The Tennessean reported that Sen. Johnson views Baker as “the brother he never had.”

Baker was previously the Executive Director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in 2016.

During Baker’s tenure, Les Williamson was the Deputy Finance Director for the NRSC. Williamson is now the owner of Strategic Victory Solutions based out of Houston, Texas. 

Records show that PACs run by Ward Baker (the same PACs of which Les Williamson is the treasurer) regularly spend money with Williamson’s company – Strategic Victory Solutions.

The third-quarter 2022 financial report for the Tennessee Conservatives PAC shows that the Treasurer and an officer of the PAC is Les Williamson and that they spend money with Strategic Victory Solutions.  

Ward Baker appears to be both the campaign manager for Jack Johnson and the Director of the Tennessee Conservatives PAC.

The Tennessee Conservatives PAC was created in May of 2022 (in the middle of the Republican primary) and only spent money on attack ads against Sen. Johnson’s political opponent, Gary Humble.

The Tennessee Conservatives PAC sent out two mailers titled “Grifter Gary” during the 2022 Republican Primary to Williamson County voters. Financial records show that this was the only activity of the PAC for the entirety of 2022.

The third-quarter 2022 financial report for the Tennessee Conservatives PAC also shows a contribution of $2500 was made on July 29th, 2022 by the Tennessee Reynolds American Inc PAC, based in North Carolina.

The Tennessee Conservative reached out to the Treasurer of the TN Reynolds PAC to ask what prompted the donation to the TN Conservatives PAC but received no response.

The Tennessee Reynolds American Inc PAC Pre-Primary 2022 financial report verifies this contribution to the TN Conservatives PAC.

The same day as the donation, the Reynolds PAC also shows an adjustment of ($2500) from the JACK-PAC, a PAC run by Senator Jack Johnson.

Records show that this $2500 contribution was originally made from the Reynolds PAC to the JACK-PAC on 8/18/2021. 

As such, this contribution should be reported in the 2021 Annual Year End Report for the JACK-PAC, but it is not. Records for the JACK-PAC show no transactions with the Tennessee Reynolds American Inc PAC for all of 2021 and 2022.

To summarize, the $2500 that was given to Sen Johnson’s PAC in Fall 2021 landed in a different PAC in Spring 2022 that only spent money to attack his opponent in the Republican Primary.

While the Reynolds PAC records the transaction between the three PACS, the JACK-PAC neglects to record any of these transactions in its reporting.

Of further interest is the fact that the 2021 Annual Year End Report for the JACK-PAC, that would have shown this transaction with the Reynolds PAC, was amended on April 1st, 2022.  This was after Gary Humble had publicly announced that he would primary Jack Johnson for State Senate. 

Tennessee State Campaign Finance Rules stipulate: “When registering as a multicandidate political campaign committee (PAC), a committee must disclose its affiliation with any other PACs and provide the names and addresses of those PACs. Such affiliations must be disclosed in the PAC’s appointment of political treasurer statement. A committee must notify the Registry if it later becomes affiliated with any other PACs and provide the names and addresses of those PACs within thirty (30) days of the affiliation occurring.”

In layman’s terms, it is illegal for a campaign to coordinate with a PAC without disclosing the affiliation.

When the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance decided to audit the campaign of Gary Humble, who lost to incumbent Jack Johnson by a narrow margin last year, there was no tangible evidence presented or complaints filed.

Registry board member Tom Lawless called for the investigation stating, There’s some smoke there, which usually means there’s something underneath that causes it to rise. And I just want you all to dig into it.”

With an official complaint being filed, and tangible evidence provided in that complaint and here, in this article, Tennessee voters will see whether the Registry will apply the same scrutiny to an incumbent legislator’s campaign as they have to a primary challenger.

The Tennessee Conservative reached out to the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance to ask if they would be investigating Johnson’s campaign but have yet to receive a response upon publication of this article.

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com